Mystery also coming-of-age novel

‘Mercy Creek'' by MATT MATTHEWS

Published: Sunday, July 28, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, July 26, 2013 at 9:46 a.m.

Isaac Lawson recently turned 16 and is looking forward to a miserable summer.

Instead of joining his friends in the summer baseball league, he opts to get a job at a local hardware and building supply store. The idea of solving a mystery and earning a $5,000 reward tempts him.

Isaac's summer of discovery is the focus of "Mercy Creek" by Matt Matthews. The novel is a thoughtful story and a reminder to the reader of any age that forgiveness and understanding go a long way in a small community.

Isaac's mother died a year ago, and his father, a local minister in this small town of Rooksville, Va., has introduced a romantic interest into his life. Isaac becomes a part of his father's courtship drama because the woman attracting Mr. Lawson's attention has a young son who needs to be entertained. Isaac is not happy in the role of nanny.

In addition to baby-sitting, he is questioning his girlfriend's commitment to their relationship. She takes a job in Virginia Beach and will be away all summer. Isaac makes a weekend trip to visit her and returns home knowing that his romance is finished while his father's is just beginning.

As Isaac's miserable summer begins, several homes in the small town are vandalized. A citizens' group offers a reward for information leading to the arrest of the culprits. As Isaac works at his job, faces the end of his relationship with Jenny, and feels sorry for himself because his friends are all playing baseball, he begins to imagine how his life would improve if he solved the mystery of the vandalized homes.

Part of his summer job includes sweeping out the store every morning while he listens to the old men in town sit and gossip. The other part of his job involves working in the warehouse to load trucks for deliveries and to clean and reorganize inventory. It is during the afternoons in the warehouse that he becomes friends with Eddie, a man who seems to have a secret.

As Isaac moves through the summer, he works days, meets his friends in the evenings and helps his father with work at home and at the church. The story moves at a slow pace with thoughtful dialogue. Isaac worries about building a life with his father now that his mother is dead. He thinks about his father's new romance, and he spends time trying to solve the mystery of the vandalized houses. Throughout the story, Isaac remains a kind, thoughtful, curious and idealistic youngster.

On a visit to the local fire department, he sees the names of several of the vandal's victims listed as members of the original fire house volunteers. He determines that the former volunteer firemen have been targeted for a reason. Working through newspaper archives, gossip and old history, he concludes that he might know the next victim.

Isaac also learns that Eddy's secret, a 50-year-old attack by the Klan in this Southern town, is fueling the acts of vandalism.

The youngster works to understand the sorrow that his friend Eddy endured all those years ago when no one in the community could accept that a white man would marry a black woman. He works to also understand how the woman and her child died and why 50 years later, Eddy is seeking retribution for his loss.

Isaac works through his personal challenges, finally accepts his father's new romance, finds his own new girlfriend and tries to make sense of the ugly past that has been kept hidden in Rooksville all these years.

Matt Matthews, the author of "Mercy Creek," was a presenter at the 2013 Blue Ridge Bookfest. He studied journalism at Virginia Commonwealth University, then attended Union Seminary in Richmond, Va. He is a Presbyterian minister and lives in Upstate South Carolina.

"Mercy Creek," winner of the South Carolina Arts Commission First Novel Prize, is published by Hub City Press of Spartanburg, S.C.

Renee Kumor is chairwoman of Blue Ridge Bookfest, scheduled for April 25-26 at Blue Ridge Community College.

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